1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operation device for accepting a user's operation and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an operation device for accepting a user's rotation operation is known (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-107170). In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-107170, a rotation member is rotated by the user's rotation operation, and thereby the operation performed by the user is determined.
On the other hand, as an operation device for accepting a user's operation, a touch panel type device is known (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-253478). In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-253478, a position the user touches is recognized and the operation performed by the user is determined.
When applying a continuous operation such as the rotation operation of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-107170 to the touch panel type operation device of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-253478, for example, sensors are disposed at a plurality of positions along a predetermined circle and a user performs a tracing operation along the circle.
However, in the touch panel method, the touch panel does not rotate, so that the user cannot perform a correct continuous operation, and the user may touch a position apart from the intended position.
Therefore, if other keys on which touch operations are performed are disposed near the positions where the continuous operation is performed, it may be wrongly recognized that the keys are operated. Thus, other keys may not be disposed near the positions where the continuous operation is performed. Therefore, the flexibility of the arrangement of the keys decreases.